Born This Way
by VividInfinity
Summary: The newsies are newsies, they're born to be newsies. They're born ugly or pretty, to be bullied or popular, to be gay, straight, or bi, to be insecure or brave, but they're born newsies all the same. Does that rhyme? Oneshot songfic, song by Lady Gaga


**Author's Note: I own most of the characters in this. Basically, if you don't recognize them from the movie, they're mine.**

**I wanted to do something that involved being yourself, because so many fanfics are about girls who disguise themselves, and people who are beat up for whatever reason. Yeah, I'm being mushy, I know, but you can hate me later, once you're done reading this songfic.**

**Also, I do not own newsies or Lady Gaga or **_**Born This Way**_**.**

**Enjoy!**

There were plenty of them, all over New York City. The street urchins and gutter girls, guttersnipes and street rats. The newsboys and shoeshiners, the factory workers and gangs. Everyone. Everywhere. Kids and adults, but mostly kids.

Maybe they weren't born street kids, or maybe they were, but they were each special, in their own way. They were each fighters, kids who never gave up, _that's_ who they were.

_My mama told me when I was young  
We are all born superstars  
She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on  
In the glass of her boudoir_

__Sarah looked up at her mother, who smiled back at her. She was gently brushing the seven-year-old's long brown hair. "Remember, Sarah," she said as David stared at the new baby in their father's arms, "You are beautiful, you are wonderful, you are exceptional. You were _born_ exceptional."

"Mama?" Sarah asked. "What's exceptional mean?"

"It means you're a superstar, Sarah."

_There's nothin' wrong with lovin' who you are  
She said, 'cause He made you perfect, babe  
So hold your head up, girl and you you'll go far  
Listen to me when I say  
_

Goose Girl hugged Boots close. The little boy was crying, sobbing into Goose Girl's shoulder. The Manhattan newsgirl held him, murmuring, "You're perfect, Boots, don't listen to those boys. He made you who you are, and He made you perfect. Keep your chin up, Shoeshine," That was her nickname for him, Shoeshine. Boots looked up at his older sister.

"For real, Goosey?" Boots murmured.

Goose Girl smiled. "For real, Boots," and put her fingers under his chin to lift it up.

_I'm beautiful in my way  
'Cause God makes no mistakes  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way  
_

"Bitch!" The boy hissed.

Flicker laughed, spinning out of the boy's reach. "Takes one to know one, buster!" She taunted, giggling.

"You're a dirty, stinkin' gutter girl, always will be!"

Flicker gave a dramatic bow. "God don't make mistakes, do he? I'm just _perfect_!"

_Don't hide yourself in regret  
Just love yourself and you're set  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way, born this way  
_

Jill looked up into the mirror. Her face was smeared with tears. The other factory girls had been bullying her again, taunting her. They had no right to. They were just as low as she was. They were just as poor as she was, what right did they have to mock her?

Jill jumped as the voices of the girls in the other room reached her. "Hey, Ugly!" A girl called out. "Come out here!"

Jill looked at herself in the mirror. She always knew she wasn't pretty, but she wasn't ugly either. _Don't hide away in here, Jill_, she told herself. _Get out there and face old Foul Frannie and them others!_

_Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
Baby, I was born this way  
Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way  
_

Vaudeville spun, like she'd seen the dancers on street corners do. She spun and flipped and threw her arms and legs wide, like she knew the professional dancers did. She wanted to be a dancer, it's what she wanted to dedicate her life to. Her parents told her she had to marry someone with enough money to keep her comfortable, a shopkeeper or something, and that she had to go to school and learn to keep house and how to mend clothes and wash dishes and take care of kids.

This was the path she wanted to take. She was born to do this.

_Don't be a drag, just be a queen  
Don't be a drag, just be a queen  
Don't be a drag, just be a queen  
Don't be  
_

"Come on, Carrie!" Paula yelled at her friend. "Have some fun for a change!" She held up a bottle of Coke, because she knew Carrie loved Coke. Their friends, Mary, Valerie, and another girl also called Paula, all joined Paula in their pleads to Carrie to join them.

Carrie looked at her books. She really shouldn't. She had a _huge_ test tomorrow—thirty-percent-of-her-grade huge. She couldn't afford to party tonight.

"Don't be a drag!" Paula sang off-key with her friends as Lady Gaga's _Born This Way_ blasted. "Just be a queen! Come on, Carrie!"

Carmen grinned. Challenge accepted. :P

_Give yourself prudence and love your friends  
Subway kid, rejoice of truth  
In the religion of the insecure  
I must be myself, respect my youth_

__Spot grinned at the middle-aged cop. The Bull glared back, but Spot just changed his smile to a smirk. "Bite me, Blue Boy."

The Bull lunged. Spot jumped, grabbing a bar overhead to let the Bull run into a pile of garbage behind where Spot had been. Spot waggled a finger at the furious Bull. "Respect my youth."

_A different lover is not a sin  
Believe capital H-I-M  
I love my life, I love this record and  
Mi amore vole fe yah  
_

There was nothing like a good barefoot spin in the rain to make life worth living. Wiz cackled, turning her face up to the cloudy midnight sky as rain soaked her through to the bone. She felt like she could fly! Her bare feet were frigid and dripping, standing in a puddle, and her only outfit was drenched in rainwater, but she cackled like life was finally worth living. She spun and spun beneath the storm, laughing as thunder and lightning struck above her.

"I LOVE MY LIFE!" Wiz screeched in glee, whooping.

Downer, watching in the shadows, rolled his eyes. "It's just _rain_, Wiz."

"Stop _killing_ my _buzz_, Downer!"

_I'm beautiful in my way,  
'Cause God makes no mistakes  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way  
_

Fiona knew she wasn't pretty. Her nose was too big at the end, her eyes were an ugly shade of blue. Her lips were too thin and her cheeks were too pale. But boy, could she _sing_!

She sang songs at the top of her lungs on the same street corner every day. She sang like it was the best moment of her life, like she was the most beautiful person on earth.

And she was. In her own way.

_Don't hide yourself in regret,  
Just love yourself and you're set  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way  
_

"I can't go out there, Jolt," Venus hissed. "I regret this _so_ much!"

"You look amazing, Venus," Jolt assured her fellow newsgirl. "All you have to do is walk out there."

Venus didn't think she looked amazing. She thought her bra was pinching her, her ankles were wobbling in heels, her corset was killing her, her makeup was burning her eyes, and her dress was definitely out of place in some minor way. But Jolt pushed her friend out, and Venus was forced to walk, or else fall over her heels.

But as Venus walked out, she saw Cooper, the newsies she'd been crushing over for the past few weeks, stare at her with sparking eyes, and she smiled. She no longer felt regret. When Cooper looked at her, she felt beautiful, and she loved it. While she was on the topic, she loved herself, and him, and Jolt and Medda, and the newsboys, and her whole _life_!

_Slow down, Venus_, She scolded herself. _No need to get high over a boy. Just love yourself and you're set. No need to snuggle the world to death or regret getting into a dress._

_Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
Baby, I was born this way  
Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way_

Don't be drag, just be a queen  
Whether you're broke or evergreen  
You're black, white, beige, chola descent  
You're Lebanese, you're orient  


"Dirty Chinese!" The girl spat, safely protected by the boys surrounding Swifty. "Go back to where you came from!"

Swifty glared at her. "I was born _here_, bitch."

"Well, then go back to where your _mom_ was born!" the girl said, flustered.

Swifty rolled his eyes crossly. "My mom _was also_ born here!" He said, and kicked the first boy in the crotch, leaping into the fight that ensued.

_Whether life's disabilities  
Left you outcast, bullied or teased  
Rejoice and love yourself today  
'Cause baby, you were born this way  
_

Shade looked down at the ground that was too far from up here. Ten stories, at _least_. She remembered the teasing, the taunting, the bullies, the beatings. She remembered being an outcast, going home with black eyes, suffering after her parents told the teacher and had the boys and girls who did it punished. Shade called to surface the memories of tortured days in the classroom, trying to learn and yet failing for the giggling behind her back.

At these memories, Shade took another step forward.

Shade looked down at the ground. The jump would be a long one, and she might miss and hit the fire escapes, or hit the ground wrong and live. She couldn't miss, then.

She took a step into the air, and instantly regretted it. She grabbed the unsteady railing, clutching the memories of happy days, when her friends had stood up for her and when she had done the same for them.

She laughed in relief, and let go of the railing, backing away from the edge. She wouldn't die today. Shade was _born_ to survive.

_No matter gay, straight or bi  
Lesbian, transgendered life  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born to survive  
_

Itey and Snitch looked at the kids, the schoolboys and –girls that were pointing their way and laughing at them, at the way their hands were tightly interwoven.

"Aw, don't pay them any attention," Itey told Snitch firmly. "We were born this way." Snitch gave a confident grin, and they strode back over to the other newsboys and began to make childish faces at the schoolkids.

_No matter black, white or beige  
Chola or orient made  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born to be brave  
_

"Janine?" Cora's light voice sounded from the door to the girls' washroom. "You alright?"

"I can't go back out there, Cor." Janine's voice was panicked and weepy. "They'll start mocking me again!"

Cora put a hand on each of her sister's shoulders. "Come on, _chola_," She said softly. "Be brave."

"But what if we're doing this wrong?" Janine asked, her face contorted with worry. "What if we're not supposed to be newsgirls? What if Mom wanted us to be something else? Work for Aunt May or something?"

Cora smiled gently, and slung an arm over her sister's shoulder, steering her out the door. "We're on the right track, _mi hermanita_. We were born to be newsies."

_I'm beautiful in my way  
'Cause God makes no mistakes  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way  
_

"It's the Pig!" Jackal announced, running back to the ranks of the Midtown newsies. They all glared down at the chubby girl with crossed arms and a hard glower.

"You know, Jack," Max spoke aloud, seemingly addressing Jackal. "I don't think Pig is even human. I think her dad was a _pig_."

"Fatty!" Jackal jeered, the ten-year-old's face contorted in a sneer. "God must've just put you together with all the fat left over from everyone else!"

The other newsies howled. Chubby, who had been named that since she'd been little, just shrugged. She knew better than them. God didn't make mistakes like that. She was beautiful, because God had made her like that.

_Don't hide yourself in regret,  
Just love yourself and you're set  
I'm on the right track, baby  
I was born this way, yeah  
_

"I'm _beautiful_," Cammie gushed, twirling in front of the mirror. Sonnet, Cammie's friend, smiled.

"You do look pretty, Cam," She admitted.

"Not just _pretty_," The nine-year-old scowled. "I'm the princess tonight," She adopted a dreamy expression. "I'm amazing! I'm beautiful! I'm the princess! I'm _gorgeous_!"

Sonnet, about to tell Cammie off for being stuck-up, stopped herself. Maybe she should love herself the way Cammie clearly treasured herself.

"Of course you're gorgeous, Cam," Sonnet said, scooping up the still-little girl in her arms. "You were _born_ gorgeous."

Cammie nodded in satisfaction, as if Sonnet had finally said something that made sense.

_Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
Baby, I was born this way  
Ooh, there ain't no other way, baby, I was born this way  
I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way  
I was born this way, hey  
I was born this way, hey  
I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way, hey_

I was born this way, hey  
I was born this way, hey  
I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way, hey

"WE WERE BORN THIS WAY, BITCHES!"

-Newsies and company

**You're welcome, Fansies.**

**Peace out!**

**I WAS BORN THIS WAY, YEAH!**


End file.
